Firework
by starsaligns
Summary: Sam Evans is not over Quinn Fabray.  Rachel Berry has some insight for him that he takes in confusion.  However, Rachel gives Sam the realization he needs to move on from Quinn Fabray and he realizes that he can be strong.


_This just begged to be written. I've had it in my head for days now and I couldn't take it anymore. It strays from my normal ships, but I think this could be the beginning of something cute. It's going to stay a one-shot for now, unless I really want to continue it._

_Disclaimer – if I owned Glee, I'd be all up on Chord and Mark already. So, sadly I don't own Glee._

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I saw them together the first day after I broke up with Santana—or she broke up with me, I don't remember. I was at my locker, putting my books away, when they walked past me. I noticed them, but they hardly noticed me. My head turned and followed them—they were holding hands together, gazing into each other's eyes, very much in love. They hardly noticed anyone as they walked past and it sucked.

It sucked because that was supposed to be me with her.

Apparently, the name rhyming fad hadn't gone away and Quinn was still attracted to Finn. Not that I could blame her. He was the star quarterback that had one the game for us, even if I substituted in for him for most of the game. He didn't need Bieber to look cool and he certainly did not deserve Quinn Fabray.

"Bullshit", I mumbled into my locker. I tried to tell myself that they did deserve each other. Quinn cheated on me with Finn and before she cheated on Finn with Puckerman. Wasn't there something in the bible that said something about cheating? Wasn't it a sin? Some Christian she was.

And even then, I couldn't turn my head away from her. What the hell was wrong with me? I should have been over Quinn Fabray the moment I got with Santana. She was supposed to help me forget. I wasn't dumb. I knew about Santana's reputation before I started dating her. It was the whole point. And even though Santana put out, it still wasn't enough for me to get over Quinn.

What is my life?

I didn't even see how the new couple affected everyone until I closed my locker door and turned right. Rachel was standing there, hands behind her back, leaning against the lockers. I guess I didn't think how Finn being with Quinn would have affected her. Sure, she sang that Katy Perry song to prove she was over him, but was she really? I thought that she would have gotten together with Puckerman after that duet—it was bomb—but Puckerman blew her off for Zizes the following week. But I could tell she had feelings for Hudson still.

I was pretty, but I wasn't dumb.

I shrugged off my letterman and grabbed my notebook for Chemistry, holding both things in my hand as I walked through the hall. It was the only highlight of my day—besides, Glee but even that was getting messed up by the Fuinn-ness of everything. I had to walk past Rachel, but not before stopping to say a quick hello. Glee had sort of become a second family to me, and Rachel was a good friend when she wasn't talking so much. And she did help with the football stuff two weeks ago—after I held her back from kicking Azimio in the face, which I probably should have let her do anyway.

"Hey Rachel", I said, meant as a quick hello and a goodbye, but she didn't think so. I felt her hand on my arm and I turned around to face her. She was beautiful, an unconventional beauty unlike Quinn who was the typical blonde bombshell of a teenage girl. But the look on her face was what got to me. She was hurting, just as much if not more than I was. She was wounded, like a puppy beaten with a stick. You don't just beat puppies with a stick. It was unethical. "You okay?"

She nodded once, putting on her show smile. I knew it was her show smile because she spent a week teaching us how to do one. My cheeks hurt for days afterwards.

"You and I are both better than this, Samuel", she told me before she let go and started to walk in the opposite direction towards her Calculus class. What did she even mean by that? I was already confused to begin with and I could tell that my face could show it. I was always an easy person to read. My mom said I was cool like that. Sometimes I wish I had a mask like Spiderman or Wolverine.

Dude, if I was Wolverine, I would have kicked Hudson's ass by now and gutted him whole. But sadly, I wasn't.

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"_You and I are both better than this, Samuel."_

I couldn't get what Rachel had told me out of my head throughout class. Better than what?

I decided I would stop her on the way to our lockers. I needed answers. Thankfully, all we did in Chemistry was take notes on moles—the mole was a measure of unit consisting of 6.02 times ten to the twenty-third power. How did I know that? The teacher had a mole on his forehead the size of Grover Cleveland's face.

The bell rang and I jumped out of my seat, determined to find Rachel Berry. It didn't take me long; she was already weaving around students to get to her locker. "Rachel", I yelled out while trying to catch her attention. She stopped and closed her eyes, probably preparing for her daily slushy facial, but I put my hands out and pulled her to the side so she wouldn't be trampled.

"I need to know", I told her quietly, looking down to see her open her brown eyes. Quinn had a muddy green, but Rachel's were a honey brown that made me think of chocolate. I like chocolate, but I couldn't eat it as much as I wanted to. I didn't want to lose my abs. I shook my head to get out of my thoughts and realized how much I looked like the Biebs at the moment—I did see Rachel swoon while I was in my phase though. "I need to know what you meant by what you told me before class. We're better than what?"

She smiled—small, but it was genuine—and coiled back from me. She cradled her books like they were her means of protection from this subject. I instantly felt bad—she probably had a good time in Calculus and I managed to ruin it by ambushing her about this in the hallway. I felt like a tool for it. But she smiled, that had to mean something, right?

"I meant we were better than wallowing in self pity. It hurts to see them together, Samuel, but we're supposed to be over them—supposed to be stronger than this. We're fireworks, Samuel. We deserve to shine."

I must have been more confused than I was before since she let out a small laugh at my expense. She had an airy laugh, a pretty laugh, and I couldn't help but give out a half smile. "Right", I dragged out, trying to sound like I knew what she was talking about, but I guess I failed against her awesome brain power.

"I'll see you in Glee club, Samuel."

And then we parted ways for the rest of the school day, but her words still resonated in my head.

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"_We're fireworks, Samuel. We deserve to shine."_

I sat through Glee by myself for the first time since my first week and it wasn't half bad. I did have to sit through Finn and Quinn making goo-goo faces at each other in the middle of the room. Rachel rolled her eyes at them, but Puckerman looked at Rachel. That was interesting.

But I kept my eyes to the front of the room, replaying Rachel's words over and over. I did deserve to shine; I deserve my moment in the spotlight and so did Rachel. I realized what she meant in that moment. I didn't need Quinn Fabray to shine. I didn't need her to be great.

All I needed was a kick ass song.

"Mr. Schue. I know I did Bieber last week, but I want to do something with Rachel." Everyone's eyes turned to be. Puck glared, Finn and Quinn looked confused, but Rachel just smiled. Yeah, I got the moral of the story.

Everyone has the potential to shine and be a firework; they just have to have a friend to realize such a thing.

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_Please read and review._


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